Hindu Flashcards
This experience of Hindus seeing or being seen by a deity or a guru is called ________ .
Darshana
The origins of the four classes (varnas) is traced to ________ .
the cosmic sacrifice of Purusha, the ‘Supreme Person’
What Hindu festival means ‘necklace of lights’?
Deepavali (or Divali).
Bhakti refers to ________ .
Devotion
What is the most important school of Hindu philosophy?
Vedanta
The most famous text outlining the norms of moral and social duty according to the caste system is the ________ .
Laws of Manu
The trimurti (‘three forms’) includes which three gods?
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva
The god Ganesha has the head of what animal?
Elephant
In the form of Nataraja, Shiva is commonly portrayed iconographically as a ________ .
Dancer
The practice of sati involves ________.
The self-immolation of a widow on her husband’s cremation pyre
The earliest compositions in the Hindu tradition are the ________ .
Vedas
What does the term moksha mean?
‘liberation’ from the cycle of rebirth
What American movement incorporated Hindu traditions and scriptures?
Transcendentalism
Which of the following is NOT a form of the Goddess?
Hanuman
To when are the Upanishads approximately dated?
600 BCE
The Bhagavad Gita is an extract from what larger work?
The Mahabharata
Bhakti yoga, discussed in the Bhagavad Gita, refers to ________ .
The way of devotion
From where does the term ‘Hinduism’ derive?
The word ‘Sind’, referring to the region of the river Sindhu (Indus).
How many incarnations will Vishnu have in the present cycle of creation, according to Hindu tradition?
10
What are the three ways to liberation described in the Gita?
Action, Knowledge, Devotion
In what Hindu text is the Creation Hymn found?
The Rig Veda
Ayurveda referred to an important system of ________ .
Medicine
In a Hindu wedding, what does the couple take seven steps around together?
Ritual Fire
The Bhagavad Gita take the form of a conversation between ________ .
Arjuna and Krishna
The shudra caste consists of ________ .
Servants
The Sanskrit word ‘dharma’, for Hindus, refers to ________ .
Righteousness, specifically in religious and social obligation
The civilization in the Indus Valley region dating as far back as 2750 BCE is known as the ________ .
Harappa Culture
The phrase “tat tvam asi” (“you are that”) refers to ________ .
The connection of Brahman and Atman
The most famous text outlining the norms of moral and social duty according to the caste system is the ________ .
Laws of Manu
What are the dharmashastras?
Codes of law and ethics
The god Ganesha has the head of what animal?
Elephant
The literal meaning of ‘karma’ is ________ .
Action
Samsara refers to ________ ,
The continuing cycle of death and rebirth
Which of the following are types of smrti (‘that which is remembered’) literature?
All three, the epics (itihasas), the Puranas and the dharmashastras.
Who was the influential Hindu participant at the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago?
Vivekanada
The kshatriya caste consists of ________ .
Rulers and warriors
Shruti (‘that which was heard’) literature refers to ________ .
The Vedas
Krishna is considered an avatara (incarnation) of which god?
Vishnu
Prasada refers to ________ .
food ritually presented to, then returned by, a deity
The linga, a conical or cylindrical stone column symbolic of creative energy, is associated with which god?
Shiva
Scholars date the composition of the Vedas to roughly ________ .
1500-600 BCE
The Atman is the ________ .
Human Soul
The Which of the following is NOT a great Classical Hindu epic?
The Laws of Manu
